Tinder and Manchester City Hook Up in 'Multimillion-Pound' New Partnership

The dating app Tinder announced an official partnership with Manchester City on Thursday.

Tinder described the news as a "perfect match" that saw it "swipe right" on the club:

It will be a "multimillion-pound partnership" and is set to be celebrated with a giant Tinder-branded blimp flying over Manchester on Thursday, per Alice McKeegan for the Manchester Evening News.

The partnership will see Tinder involved with the men's and women's teams at Man City and sister club New York City FC for a number of years. The social dating app will also be changing its branding to City's sky blue ahead of Saturday's Manchester derby.

"Tinder is a huge global platform, which, just like football, is bringing millions of people together every day all around the world," Tom Glick, chief commercial officer of City Football Group, said. "Football is all about a community of fans, sharing moments, emotions and passion for the sport they love.

"Together with Tinder, we have a great opportunity to explore how we can combine Tinder's significant appeal and reach with our global audience to create even more relationships in a new, fun and creative way."

This is Tinder's "first significant foray into the world of sport," according to a report on Man City's official website. The deal looks set to benefit City fans who use the app with "once-in-a-lifetime opportunities" and special events at the Etihad Stadium.

"Football is a sport where anything can happen at any moment," said David Wyler, Tinder's vice-president of partnerships. "We wanted to be true to the game and do something unexpected by surprising the fans and our users with news of our partnership in a fun and creative way."

The use of blimps might be "fun and creative," but Tinder's decision to initially circulate pictures of a red blimp—the colour of archrivals Manchester United—was a bizarre move on Thursday morning. Red is the Tinder logo's usual colour.

The news comes at a difficult time for the club in football terms following their 3-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday. Pep Guardiola's side were resoundingly beaten in the first leg of that tie, and with the manager looking to rest players for the Manchester derby on Saturday, per Sam Lee for Goal, things could get worse before they get better.

And while the timing of the announcement might not be ideal, some have seen the funny side of things, including the Press Association's Simon Peach:

City fans will be hoping Manchester is painted blue come Saturday evening. Guardiola's team will win the Premier League title, and in record time, should they get the three points against United on home soil.

New multimillion-pound partnerships are always good news for football clubs, but the story will quickly be forgotten should City fail to be crowned champions on Saturday or progress to the Champions League semi-finals.